Old Run, New Run

I’m gonna stick to the plan that I outlined yesterday. In yesterday’s post, I wrote about a successful StairMaster workout (and the new skyscraper I added to my collection) that I never got around to blogging about from a few weeks ago. I also mentioned that there was another workout from a few weeks ago that went unmentioned in this blog.

So this post is about that other aforementioned, unmentioned workout. And that workout happened to be a run. Since I knew all day that I’d be writing about a run tonight, I thought it’d be fitting to make today’s workout a run as well. That way, I’d have the two things mentioned in the title of this post: an old run, and a new run.

I’ll talk about the old run first. I’m not sure how I managed to never write about the run I had on Sunday, June 5, because I’m awfully proud of it. I returned to Valhalla Memorial Park, the cemetery on the border between Los Angeles and Burbank. I’ve run there once before, in the beginning of March (see some pictures, and read about that run here), and I really enjoyed it. One loop around the entire cemetery is 1.8 miles. Here’s what that loop looks like:

The dot in the lower left is my starting and stopping point – right next to the main (and only) entrance.

When I went back to the cemetery a few weeks ago, I set a goal to run that 1.8 mile loop twice (for a total of 3.6 miles). The first time I ran in the cemetery, I completed 3 loops (5.4 miles), but since then I’ve been made aware of my crappy form, and I’ve been working hard on improving it. Since running with a proper, healthy form has proven to be more difficult, I wasn’t sure if I could complete 3 loops again, which is why I set 2 loops as my goal.

I ended up running 3 loops. THREE LOOPS! It felt awesome. This was the first run since I began focusing on proper form where the proper form felt comfortable, maintainable, and even felt a little normal. I noticed that I wasn’t fighting the form, and I didn’t revert back to my crappy heel-striking habit as soon as I started getting tired.

That run was two weeks and one day ago. For tonight’s run, I decided I’d just hit the streets in my neighborhood, and see what happened. No goal in mind, no route in mind – I just wanted to run. And it felt great. I noticed that I rarely had to think about my form at all, which was huge. I felt comfortable, and it felt like I was moving along at a good clip, and I enjoyed myself, which is something that I don’t always do when I’m running. About 40 minutes in, I starting feeling a cramp in my side, but I was nearly back at my starting point, so I finished strong and called it a night. I was running for 42 minutes, and I went 3.9 miles. The route:

OH BOY – two runs to add to my running chart!

9/21/10: Distance: 3.1 miles. Time: 41 minutes. MPH: 4.53

9/27/10: Distance: 3.3 miles. Time: 45 minutes. MPH: 4.4

10/5/10: Distance: 3.2 miles. Time: 40 minutes. MPH: 4.8

10/12/10: Distance: 3.8 miles. Forgot to note time and MPH

10/16/10: Distance: 2.9 miles. Forgot to note time and MPH

11/1/10: Distance: 3.1 miles. Time: 36 minutes. MPH: 5.16

11/6/10: Distance: 5.1 miles. Time: 60 minutes. MPH: 5.1

11/14/10: Distance: 3.9 miles. Time: 45 minutes. MPH: 5.2

11/28/10: Distance: 4.2 miles. Time: 46 minutes. MPH: 5.47

1/4/11: Distance: 3.0 miles. Time: 34 minutes. MPH: 5.3

1/24/11: Distance: 4.4 miles. Time: 45 minutes. MPH: 5.86

2/1/11: Distance: 1.9 miles. Time: 20 minutes. MPH: 5.7

2/9/11: Distance: 3.5 miles. Time: 38 minutes. MPH: 5.52

2/16/11: Distance: 2.9 miles. Time: 33 minutes. MPH: 5.28

2/27/11: Distance: 5 miles. Time: 60 minutes. MPH: 5.0

3/3/11: Distance: 5.4 miles. Time: 57 minutes. MPH: 5.68

3/10/11: Distance: 3.0 miles. Time: 34 minutes. MPH: 5.29

4/10/11: Distance: 4.5 miles. Time: 47 minutes. MPH: 5.74

5/22/11: Distance: 3.5 miles. Time: 40 minutes. MPH: 5.25

6/5/11: Distance: 5.4 miles. Time: 58 minutes. MPH: 5.58

6/20/11: Distance: 3.9 miles. Time: 42 minutes. MPH: 5.57

My two graveyard runs (from 3/3/11 and 6/5/11), which each totaled 5.4 miles, are my longest runs, distance-wise, to date. I think I’m getting closer to being able to reach my running-past-strip-clubs goal!

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In A Nutshell

A big hello to everyone that’s discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I’m glad you’re here.

My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I’m 38 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good – I’ve lost and kept off 160 pounds! But it’s a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I’ll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!